Kimani Wamatangi, Kiambu county governor has announced that there will be an increase in bursary allocation for secondary and college education to 500 million shillings, up from the 300 million shillings that was given this year.
Kiambu County will in the next financial year increase bursary allocation for secondary and college education to 500 million shillings, up from the 300 million shillings that was given this year, Governor Kimani Wamatangi has announced.
The governor said his administration has now tripled the bursary allocation from 100 million shillings in February to an additional 100 million shillings in June and another 100 million shillings in November, making it 300 million shillings, thereby removing financial obstacles that hindered countless needy children from accessing education.
“Kiambu is among the highest counties on the allocation of bursaries in the country, and come next January, we will be issuing the bursaries at an upward trend of 500 million shillings, and I want to categorically say here that the minimum bursary to be allocated will be 5000 shillings per student and not 2000 shillings as before,” he said.
Speaking on some of the developments that he is focusing on in the education sector, the governor noted that he has initiated the construction of 180 modern ECDE centers with PP1 and PP2 classrooms, offices, ablution blocks, and playgrounds, and this marks the first step in modernizing all 524 ECDE centers in the County within three years.
A feeding program for ECDE pupils has also been introduced, the Governor said, noting that children will be receiving a bowl of porridge daily, three boiled eggs weekly, and a packet of milk every Thursday to boost their potential to learn and thrive.
“The three eggs, the governor said, will be distributed and sold to the County Government at 18 shillings for an egg, and this will be done by women who have been empowered through a program of providing them with one-month-old local breed chicks.
“We aim to distribute 120,000 chicks across 12 sub-counties and target these women as future egg suppliers to support our ECDEs feeding program,” the governor said.
Still, in the education sector, Wamatangi said that they have revived the stalled Vocational Training Centre (VTC) construction to enable skill development and empower the youth.
“The plan is to establish a VTC in every ward, ensuring avenues for youth to acquire technical skills,” he said, adding that the county will also donate used vehicles to the youth to be used for training for those undertaking mechanical courses.
Other support will be investing and buying machines for making Cabros concrete blocks, and the county government will be distributing materials for producing the cabros and, in turn, buying the product from the trainees.